THAT’S JOR DROPPING!
Larmour scores a stunner in Leinster triumph
JORDAN LARMOUR produced one of the tries of the season to secure a deserved win for Leinster in a superb festive derby at a packed Thomond Park.
Larmour’s debut season just seems to get better and better and the 20-year old showed composure beyond his age to break from just outside his own 22 and secure a bonus point and wrap up the win to kill off a Munster side who seemed poised for a superb comeback.
Even Munster coach Johann Van Graan acknowledged the brilliance of Larmour in deciding the first Irish derby the South African has experienced.
He admitted: “Sometimes we forget there is an opposition team so well done that team for scoring that try, I thought he was brilliant in the whole game.
“That’s pretty special and the big moments went Leinster’s way tonight. He had a big part to play in it.”
Leinster did most of the damage in the opening 25 minutes when they opened up a 27-5 lead which they took to the interval.
The Blues stunned Munster after just 13 minutes thanks to the boot of Ross Byrne and a try from man of the match Dan Leavy.
The home side eventually got moving and a remarkable try from Conor Murray – after he had gone into a lineout following a penalty to the left corner – suggested a comeback.
However, just when it seemed Munster had found momentum, they were hit with a double blow when Leinster were awarded a penalty try and full-back Andrew Conway was binned for holding back James Lowe.
Leinster’s day got even better after 24 minutes when Rory O’loughlin and Barry Daly combined to send Robbie Henshaw over for their third try, with Byrne’s conversion making it 27-5.
Munster hit back after the restart when Keatley darted through to score under the posts, with his conversion cutting the margin to 27-12 after 47 minutes.
Scrum-half Murray won another lineout which set in train a move which saw Rory Scannell go wide to Conway and he burst past Larmour to score in the right corner. Keatley’s excellent conversion reduced the margin to 27-19.
But it was Larmour’s brilliance which decided the contest. The 20-year old collected a Garryowen from Keatley to get past Sammy Arnold before going over despite the best efforts of Zebo.
It was Larmour’s fourth try in 11 appearances in his maiden season.
Zebo set up Conway for a second try of the afternoon against his native province to secure a bonus point.
But the home side never looked like closing the gap as Leinster won for the sixth time in 16 visits to Thomond Park in the professional era. LEINSTER coach Leo Cullen has an abundance of talent at his disposal but he knows he has something special in Jordan Larmour.
The 20-year-old crowned his maiden season with one of the tries of the season, picking the biggest rivalry in Irish rugby to show exactly what he can do.
Cullen said Larmour’s try was one of the best he has seen and praised the promising back for having the composure to try something like that in the heat of the biggest rivalry in Irish rugby.
He said: “He’s like a bundle of energy. Every day he comes in and he’s just incredibly competitive, and yeah, he did well, it’s fair to say. That’s probably the biggest understatement of all time! It was an amazing try.”
Johann van Graan, experiencing a defeat for the first time since he took charge at the start of December, will take his men to Belfast hoping to bounce back against an Ulster side also smarting from a festive defeat.
He said: “I hate to lose. But you have got to be consistent in your thinking.
“This is a team game, we weren’t good enough tonight and then go back to zero, win or lose, and start again.”